Satellite TV

Bruck · 09-06-2010, 02:28 PM

Hi folks....I'm new to Direct TV. Love it at home and the installer was nice enough to give me a dish for the trailer too. Unfortunately I'm having a hell of a time getting a signal even when I have a direct view of the southern sky. I have the dish on a tripod, it is level and I even tried using a signal finder. Still no luck. Now, I have been attaching the coax to the outside cable connector instead of going directly to the receiver. Is there some alternate wiring through the antenna that is tripping me up or do you know of something else that I could perhaps be doing wrong.....or.....is pointing the satellite really just that hard and I should drop the $700-800 on an automatic satellite finder? Thanks for any tips you may have.

crocus · 09-06-2010, 02:50 PM

It is not easy to find your satellite, and even a satellite finder doesn't help that much as it finds ALL of them!
What I do is get a compass bearing at home, and as long as I am not going to far, that is my starting point. The I just move the dish in increasingly larger circles until I get a picture. Sometines I get it right away, sometimes takes a while.
If you are going any distance from home, you will need to get the compass bearing plus the angle up from the horizon (azimuth?) from your provider.
But those fancy, and expensive, rv dishes do look appealing!

DAISY BOYKIN · 09-06-2010, 02:52 PM

First off, you need to try running the cable straight through a window to the receiver. There is a setup program in the receiver that you can access with your remote. Put in the zip code where you are located, it will give you the azimuth, ele & tilt. You will need a compass for the SW heading, will not be able to get a signal under trees and the post the dish is mounted on is perfect vertical.
In the receiver set up, there is also a meter with a BEEPING sound, turn up the volume on TV, open window or door so you can hear the beep when it increases as you get on the signal, you can watch your meter near the dish to fine tune the signal. Takes practice but it will work. The receiver sends down the cable to the dish approximately 9-18 VDC to power the LNB on the dish. this is the reason I said to run it through a window or door. Once you get the signal, try hooking it to the connection on the side of your camper to see if it will work.

pondlady · 09-06-2010, 03:21 PM

Did the nice Direct TV man leave you a receiver for your RV? If he didn't, take the one from the house and install it in the RV when you are traveling. Put it back in the house when you come home.

DAISY BOYKIN · 09-06-2010, 03:24 PM

Pond Lady, did you find the tent pegs for your dish tri-pod?

pondlady · 09-06-2010, 03:26 PM

Not yet. And I was in the sporting goods store today. I did not have my list with me and I have a mind like a sieve. The tripod/satellite is not here yet. When it arrives, I will make another trip.

Bruck · 09-06-2010, 03:27 PM

Thanks for the tips...I was bright enough to bring the receiver from home though not all that much brighter...I guess I'll keep practicing. I really don't want to drop that kind of money for the auto finder.

DAISY BOYKIN · 09-06-2010, 03:38 PM

Takes practice, that is all. Once you get "IT" the first time (signal that is) and fine tune it. It is pretty much like a scope on a rifle, the view to the SAT is pretty narrow. Also, you will get your local channels up to about 200
miles. After that no more local channels, all others no problem!

rockin'ray · 09-06-2010, 04:07 PM

You may have an issue like I had with our new trailer, I tried hooking up my Expressvu system and could not get anything either and noticed as well that I was getting a high pitched nois coming from the booster at the same time when I had the receiver plugged in. Even with the booster off there is power that is supplied to the cable that goes outside in case you wish to use a tv outside so you will get the boosted signal from the antenna. My RV dealer told me I would have to take the plate off the ceiling and disconnect the cable from the back side that goes to the outdoor outlet and connect it through a separate pass through connector to isolate it from the booster. This probably would have worked for me but it looks like I may have a cable in my trailer coming from the outside that has a nail or staple through it as it still never worked for me. I eventually ran a new cable through and connected it to the outside outlet.

Hope this helps you out, the quickest way to tell though would be as mentioned above to run a cable right through a window direct to the receiver until you get the dish lined up, then try it through the other outlet, if the signal disappears then you will know that you have the same issue as I did.

jk510 · 09-06-2010, 05:24 PM

The problem is most likely with the antenna amplifier. If you are connecting the coax cable from the sat receiver directly to the connector on the amp and then connecting the dish to the outside connector things will not work as expected. The sat receiver puts out a DC voltage to the amplifier on the dish itself (the LNB). The antenna amp plate contains electronics that will block that voltage so the dish won't work.
I put a new plate in that as 2 coax connectors on it. The backside of one connector (call it #1) goes to the outside connector (moved cable from the back of the antenna amp) the backside of the other connector (call it #2) goes to the now vacant connector on the back of the antenna amp.
When I use the satellite I connect the receiver satellite connection directly to connector #1 and connect the AV output to the TV. If I should ever be some where that has cable on site then I would connect a short coax between #1 and #2.
I still have the output of the antenna plate connected to the coax input of the TV so I can switch between satellite and antenna.
I can try and draw picture if necessary.

Joel

TWO4THEROAD · 09-08-2010, 01:23 PM

Hi there, I feel for you, I go through the same problems each time I set up the Satellite. I have the signal finder, compass, dish on a tripod wired right and still have trouble. Eventually I do get it but it takes some doing. At first I thought it was the connections, but they were o.k. I tried running the cable from the dish straight to the box and still had problems. I finally realize that it takes time for the box to aquire the signal so patience is key. With the signal finder you can see the needle and hear the beeps if you're getting a strong signal. But as I mentioned, it takes the receive awhile to locate the dish. A tiny movement of the dish's angle makes a big difference. I too was thinking of getting one of those automatic dishes, but can't justify $700. Good luck !

DAISY BOYKIN · 09-08-2010, 02:26 PM

Channel Master Satellite Signal Level Meter Model 1004IFD, sells for around $55-65 dollars. I tried using the small $15.00 meters but had bad luck every time. Purchased the MOD 1004 IFD meter, works great.

You can also use a 36" jumper from meter to dish.

slpybeartx · 09-08-2010, 03:21 PM

VuQube! That gets my vote. Used it again this Labor Day weekend and was all smiles.

bmg · 09-08-2010, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bruck

Hi folks....I'm new to Direct TV. Love it at home and the installer was nice enough to give me a dish for the trailer too. Unfortunately I'm having a hell of a time getting a signal even when I have a direct view of the southern sky. I have the dish on a tripod, it is level and I even tried using a signal finder. Still no luck. Now, I have been attaching the coax to the outside cable connector instead of going directly to the receiver. Is there some alternate wiring through the antenna that is tripping me up or do you know of something else that I could perhaps be doing wrong.....or.....is pointing the satellite really just that hard and I should drop the $700-800 on an automatic satellite finder? Thanks for any tips you may have.

What year and model of RV do you have? We have an '06 SV264 and the outside cable connector will not carry the signal. It has the old RU or RG 59 cable, which is ok to receive catv if the campground has it. For satellite you need RG 6 cable. I bought 2 outside cable connectors and installed them for the bedroom and living area tvs. I bought a short RG 6 cable to connect from the inlet to the DTV receiver. The outside connectors have a weather cover and I caulked around the box. Last week we camped and I had 2 satellite receivers, the camp ground catv and for good measure I put up the antennae to get HD for couple of ball games!

When checking for signal make sure that you first connect to the DTV receiver and adjust the signal strength about halfway on the meter. My meter goes to 10 and adjust to get a 5 reading. Then connect the meter to the dish and aim to your satellite. When you lock in on the satellite signal the meter will give a full 10 signal strength on the meter. Then check your picture and the receiver should be searching. I talked to a DTV installer and he said some receivers get a signal immediately and some take as long 5 to 7 minutes.

When I first started doing this I was not patient and thought there was something wrong with the dish or receiver, when if I had been a little patient the signal would have pulled right up in a few minutes. I've found that the DTV equipment generally finds the signal pretty quickly. The Hughes usually takes a few minutes.

bmg · 09-08-2010, 04:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pondlady

Not yet. And I was in the sporting goods store today. I did not have my list with me and I have a mind like a sieve. The tripod/satellite is not here yet. When it arrives, I will make another trip.

Depending on what comes with your dish you might not need the tent pegs. My tripod came with a screw in anchor that goes in the ground and a bungee cord that connects between the anchor and the bottom of the tripod. That keeps the dish anchored solid. It didn't move at all in the some pretty gusty winds last week in the mountains. When locating the dish I do try to place where the TT acts as a wind break just in case.

bmg · 09-08-2010, 04:02 PM

Here's a link that may be helpful to all of us:

Satellite TV for your RV

pondlady · 09-08-2010, 05:07 PM

Of course, I bought the pegs today. Good timing.

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